Ranking the D.C. area’s ‘I Voted’ stickers
Are we stuck on them, or peeling them off the first chance we get?
The cherished “I Voted” sticker is many things: A symbol of civic engagement, a testament to the democratic process, a form of subtle peer pressure to anyone who hasn’t yet cast a ballot. It’s even sometimes a source of local pride: just like state-based license plates, it can celebrate a place’s symbols and personality.
Designing the stickers can be an easy way to engage the public and attract attention to the biennial democratic ritual. Take Richmond: this year the Virginia capital sponsored a design contest for its new “I Voted” sticker, which adorably ended up being an opossum casting a ballot. (Yes, there’s a story to that.) And then there’s Michigan, which let elementary school kids lead the charge, resulting in stickers with werewolves, a deer with sunglasses, and… “I voted, yay.” (Can we hire these kids for our stickers?)
So how did the Washington region fare with its “I Voted” stickers? Are we stuck on them, or peeling them off the first chance we get? We put the question to social media, and ranked what came back. Entries go from best to … just o.k.
Arlington’s limited edition Halloween sticker: Everyone knows that scarcity draws interest, so why not create a one-off “I Voted” sticker that’s only available on a single day? That’s what Arlington County did on Halloween, unveiling a spooky variation on its traditional sticker. (Which itself was newly designed in 2019, featuring a sleek Rosslyn skyline.) Festooned with bats and a spooky green-blob font for the “I Voted” message, you’d be forgiven for being scared away from voting that day – but then you’d miss getting the memorable sticker.
D.C.’s cherry blossom sticker: While the cherry blossom isn’t D.C.’s official tree (that’s the Scarlet Oak), it still serves as the city’s better-known arboreal representative. And let’s be fair: pretty much anything looks better with a cherry blossom on it (recall the 2024 Washington Nationals uniform, now sadly retired). The only quibble with this sophisticated new entrant for the 2024 election is the size of the font: much like Stumpy the Cherry Blossom, it’s just too small.
Maryland’s very Maryland stickers: Maryland never does Maryland very discreetly, and so it’s little surprise that its “I Voted” stickers lean heavily into the state’s symbols – and the gaudy state flag. Two of the designs we saw floating around on Election Day were the product of a public school contest in 2019; one features an oriole, blue crab, and racehorse, while the second includes the silhouette of the Bay Bridge (impossibly without traffic). How Maryland’s “I Voted” sticker isn’t just an image of an Old Bay container, though, is beyond us – it’s basically the most popular thing the state has to offer.
The original: Sometimes we need not complicate things, right? For that, the traditional “I Voted” sticker works just fine. The large blue lettering on a white background, coupled with an image of the U.S. flag, is classic and direct, while leaving enough space for translations into other languages. Who needs additional flair when democracy is celebration enough?
D.C.’s people-being-crushed sticker: Sometimes leaving things up to interpretation isn’t the best idea. The oval-shaped offering features a D.C. flag above a crowd of people, who – depending on how you look at it – are either hoisting up the flag or being crushed by it. The sticker is also extremely small, and features an error in the Spanish translation. (The accent over the “e” is mistakenly reversed.) Still, we give D.C. credit for unveiling a second new design for this election cycle, giving voters the chance to choose from any of the three offerings at polling places.
